Yes. I’ve changed my blog theme again. I think I might have minor OCD in this area. It’s just that every other theme I’ve tried didn’t feel right. So here I try again, trying to find the right balance of simplicity, cleanliness and functionality.

So far, I’m mostly impressed. I was not happy with the results for the tag cloud and category list, but that’s because I’m terrible at tagging and categorising my posts. Mental note to improve in this area has been made.

I’ve also been quiet lately. The Beijing Olympics have kicked into gear, we’ve almost made peace with Zimbabwe, Mandy de Waal is trying to turn the blogosphere into a pissing contest (not having much luck, though), and I’ve finally gone and reinstalled Kubuntu on my machine. There’s something appealing about Linux that Windows just doesn’t offer, despite the Royale Noir theme (worth checking out if you’re an XP diehard).

Last week was a little hectic. I’m responsible for the reports that need to go out to our Search clients. What that means in practice is that every month, there are about ~25 monthly reports that have to be generated - a process that involves downloading source data, massaging and correcting, and updating the final reports with.

It’s a time-consuming process. So much so that traditionally, we’d plan to complete the reports over a week-long period. I decided to “screw that” (in my own words), and rescheduled them all to be completed within two days.

It worked, and it worked remarkably well. Not without its toll, though. By Wednesday evening, I was sick. A relapse. In 2007, I got some funky bacterial thingies into my bloodsteam thanks to the local tapwater at Hillbrow, Johannesburg. And when I come under stress, my immune system takes an ill-timed holiday, and I suffer a throat/stomach infection all over again.

There went my Friday. I worked from home. Technically. In reality, I left my computer connected, volume on full (for incoming Skype chats), and in bed in the other room (phone nearby) trying to sleep it off.

Saturday and Sunday and Monday passed without incident. Okay, one incident. Missioned though to Tygervalley to meed Adii and check out Radiiate. Making me wish I’d met him a month ago, before my permanent contract was sealed.

And I got a call from my mom.

Moving right along.

Tuesday I caught the train into Capetown. I figured I would be able to kill twenty-two birds with one stone, so I risked Metrorail and the streets of Capetown to get to work. Worked hard, killed 22 reports in a little over three hours, came home.

And now it’s Wednesday. Tomorrow I’ll be heading in for another round of slavish labor, in an attempt to rectify an unforseen problem with some system or other. Eish.

I would write something, well, more, and I was planning to talk about quite a few things. Maybe they wouldn’t have blown over by tomorrow night, and I’ll get around to them.

I also came across a PDF about publishing - a state of authorship I am far from. I read it anyway, and it offered some incredible tips on writing. So I’m taking several leaves from that book, and restarting an old story project in my spare time. I should have some of that this weekend.

Finally, after a lot of nitpicking at code and Kolourpaint (Kubuntu version of Paintbrush), the almost-complete version of nanologr.com is back up. All that’s left to do is the confirmation email, and then it should be mostly functional, barring a few odd glitches and RSS feed output. I think it’s pretty. And green. And incomplete, but that’s what the coming weekend is for.

I have a rantreview for The Dark Knight lurking in a folder somewhere. It’s up next.